Yahoo searching for new board members: source

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is searching for new members for its board of directors, following its hiring of a new chief executive, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The struggling Internet company also disclosed on Friday that new CEO Scott Thompson will receive a compensation package that could be worth as much as $27 million.

Yahoo announced on Wednesday that Thompson, the president of eBay online payment division PayPal, would join Yahoo as its new CEO.

Thompson replaces Carol Bartz, who was fired from the top job at Yahoo four months ago, as Yahoo began a “strategic review” in which discussions have included the possibility of being sold, taken private or broken up.

With Thompson taking the reins, Yahoo will begin looking to replace some of the members of its board of directors, according to the person familiar with the matter.

A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the potential board changes.

Asked about potential changes to the composition of Yahoo’s board in an interview on Wednesday, Thompson said it was “premature” to make any announcements.

“That’s something I’ll talk about with the board at a future date,” he said.

Yahoo’s board, which includes co-founder Jerry Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock, has come under heavy criticism from several large shareholders, including activist hedge fund Third Point.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news of Yahoo’s plans for its board on Friday, the company has retained executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc to help with the process. Yahoo director Patti Hart is leading the search, the report said, citing anonymous sources.

A Web pioneer in the early 1990s, Yahoo has struggled to maintain its relevance and advertising revenue in the face of competition from rivals Google Inc and Facebook.

According to a regulator filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Thompson will receive an annual base salary of $1 million, along with a target annual bonus of 200 percent of base salary.

Thompson will also receive an annual equity grant for 2012 with a target value of $11 million, as well as a $5 million “one-time inducement” grant. Thompson’s employment agreement also provides for a “make-whole” bonus of $1.5 million in cash and $6.5 million in restricted stock units to compensate for what he left on the table at PayPal.